I’ve had a few questions about subscribing to the new blog via bloglines. As far as I can tell, the best way is to search for the URL, which is: www.wbnm.typepad.com/pomogo.
Hope to see you over there!
Writer. Editor. Teacher. Maker.
I’ve had a few questions about subscribing to the new blog via bloglines. As far as I can tell, the best way is to search for the URL, which is: www.wbnm.typepad.com/pomogo.
Hope to see you over there!
My first Project Spectrum items: Umbilical Cord baby hat and an Itty Bitty Bear from Summer ’05 IK. Both knit on US 7s in Sundae Swirl from Plymouth Yarns. The bear took no time at all; I may have to start a collection of them! These will both join the poodle onesie I embroidered in February using a Sublime Stitching pattern.
Be sure to check out Carole’s Project Spectrum buttons–I posted my favorite on the sidebar. My other P.S. March projects include the postcard swap (thanks, Kathy! Loved yours!), an apron for Scout, and my skirt for Sew?I knit.
Major Knitter has a March Madness contest going. Go check it out, sock knitters, and then send some scraps and stash along to help her out. I’ve got a few skeins of Knitpicks yarn that I bought thinking I’d like to make gauntlets. I made one and have not finished the second, so I’m sending all those single skeins on over. I had thought to buy second skeins to make socks, but decided this is a better cause.
Good morning (ok, it’s Saturday night, but I may not have time to post in the a.m.), lovies. Per Knitting Interrupted, I’m posting a few views of my backyard. I live in a spacious townhouse (hey, I had 650 square feet in NY. Spacious is relative), but my favorite part is my backyard, with a tree. No biggy, you think? Well, in NM, to an East Coast girl, a tree is worthy of note. When I bought this place, Maddie was living with me still, and it was important to me that she have a fun, safe place to chase balls, dig in the dirt (I know, bad me to allow that), and hang in the shade while I read or corrected papers. When we moved in, though, it was just a big rectangle of dirt with the tree. Last spring was really rainy for Albuquerque, so we had a big mud pit with a tree. My floors are brick, so it was easy to clean up after my muddy-pawed girl. Neal took pity on me though. He transformed the mud pit into my little slice of green joy. I adore my back yard.
Since I spend a lot of time in Neal’s backyard, I thought I’d give you a picture of the CT yard.
When we first started dating, Neal built me the stone bench with footstool near the side woods. Someday there will be plantings all around it to make it a little private retreat. In the summer, when it’s not too humid, I like to sit there with Neal, watch the dogs run around, and comment on the state of the flowers.
This picture was taken on the deck a few days before I moved to NM. When it’s nice out, I often work on the deck while the dogs play in the yard or sleep in the shade. I love the deck.
Finally, here’s a picture of someone else’s backyard. Can you guess who? Hint: she’s a famous poet from MA.
I hope you enjoyed the backyard field trip. Let me know if you visited, and let me know if you posted your backyard–I’ll be sure to stop by and say hello. And, hey, don’t forget to enter the Name Miss Lendrum contest. I’m going to close it out on Monday at 6 p.m., so get those entries in. Neal gave her a middle name "Paddle Put". The first person to identify that reference will get a prize, too!
My girly Scout always has a fun trick up her sleeve. Here’s the latest: let’s take a virtual field trip to visit all our blogfriends. On Sunday morning, post a picture of your backyard, or your favorite part of your crib (I spent a lot of years living sans backyard. My little 3′ x 7′ balcony rocked my world for years). I’ll plan to take the field trip while I sip my coffee in my backyard (it’s been in the 70s in NM. The big advantage over NY), so post early!
On my "old" blog I posted a contest: Name Miss Lendrum, My Wheel. So far, the entries include Charlotte, Wanda (gotta say it like a New Yorker), Twisted Sister, Aurora and Minerva (INMA30, I might need contact info!), Louisa or Louina, and Wilhelmina. The prize? A skein of funky yarn from my former LYS in Irvington, NY. You’ve seen the ads. You’ve seen the yarn van.
I’m listening to Johnny Cash while I write. Don’t you wish there was going to be one more album from him? I miss the Man in Black.
I’m reading a story at the Southwest Symposium on Saturday, but I haven’t decided which one. I’d better get cracking on that decision! I’m excited to teach today, too. I’m copying a lesson from Greg Martin. I"m teaching Leonardo the Terrible Monster. Yes, I’m going to read a children’s story to a class of adults. It seems that the idea of story is elusive. Sure, we know about Frietag’s Triangle, but putting it into action is sometimes a little tough. Mo Willems has it down perfectly, though. His book makes a fun lesson. Let’s hope I don’t bomb!
Here are my words to live by this month according to Crazy Aunt Purl:
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18) The two-step may have been fine for Fred and Ginger, but who wants to be taking two steps forward and two steps back every time they hit the ground? Not me. And not ya’ll, I’m just guessing. March is all about breaking out of the box step and break dancing instead … or maybe a spicy mambo? A tango to work, a rumba to bed? Dare to do something buckwild crazy this spring, and release all the built-up tension of the winter months. Until the new moon at the very end of the month, the only expectations you have to live up to are your own. The most important thing I can tell you right now: Don’t spend your life taking instructions on how to live from people that aren’t even qualified to give you street directions. Or dance instructions.
Hey, Spring Break is just around the corner. I’ll be in Austin for AWP, hopeful for a visit with my Red Sox-loving friend Karyn (damn the Red Sox. But I still love K.). Next stop, Nashville for a visit with MB and my favorite TN LYS, and then the mid-semester visit with my pups and Neal in CT. There’s got to be a chance somewhere in that time to get buckwild crazy, don’tchya think?
Now for a quick review of Magknits. Before I start, though, have you seen Kerrie’s cashmere sock yarn? Yes, please, I’ll take some! Ok, now that I’ve wiped the drool away, here’s my favorite March issue pattern, Twister. Maybe it’s because the model is so damn sexy, all secure in his manhood and wearing pink. I love that. Or, maybe it’s the cool pattern. It’s kind of like making cables, but without knitting the stitches. Might make some for Christmas gifts 2006 (hey, it’s only 10 months away). My next favorite pattern is Eve.
I’m not in any rush to make it, and I’d certainly make Starsky before this, but I like the dropped stitch sleeves and lower area. I can’t say I was excited by any of the other patterns. What did you think? Any plans to make anything from this issue?
I got my treadmill writing done this morning before I went to school, so I’m going to watch Bride and Prejudice and work on the Umbilical Cord hat for the new baby. I want to get it done by the end of the weekend, and we all know what a slow knitter I am.
1. I’m named after my aunt.
2. My middle name is the same as my mom’s.
3. My confirmation name is Monica.
4. My mom almost named me that.
5. I like Beverly better.
6. I own far too many bags.
7. I used to own too many shoes.
8. Ok, I probably still do.
9. I learned how to knit English a month ago in order to finally make gauge.
10. I’ve been knitting for almost 10 years. I should have tried to make gauge a little sooner.
11. I’m an ovo-lacto vegetarian.
12. One of my favorite things to do is to watch a Shakespeare play, especially outside.
13. I’m perfectly good at math. I just pretend I’m not.
14. I learned to read in church by following my mother’s finger as the lector read the Gospel.
15. I became an Episcopalian in 2003.
16. I stopped going to church when I moved.
17. I still like to read my Book of Common Prayer. I think it’s well written and comforting.
18. I like that William Shakespeare also read the Book of Common Prayer.
19. I don’t believe you have to go to church to connect with God.
20. I hate working out in a gym.
21. I love getting my work out by doing something: kayaking, boxing, hiking.
22. I spent a summer at St. John’s College, Oxford.
23. I’ve rarely felt as comfortable and at home as I did then.
24. I haven’t had tv since February 1992.
25. I watch a lot of tv when I’m at Neal’s house. I won’t even admit to how much.
26. The avid tv watching usually only lasts a couple of days. Then I get disgusted with myself.
27. I watched golf with my dad throughout my childhood.
28. Now my favorite sport to watch is UCONN Huskies basketball.
29. I lived in the same town Hilton Armstrong is from.
30. I don’t know him.
31. I saw Richard Gere, Joan Rivers, Harrison Ford, and Kevin Bacon in Manhattan, but not at the same time.
32. I wish I had Carrie Bradshaw’s wardrobe. And hair.
33. I have subscriptions to Real Simple, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Creative Non-Fiction, and River Teeth.
34. I was born in a blizzard. I used to say I was a “lizard baby.”
35. Jonathan Safran Foer, Italo Calvino, James Salter, and A.S. Byatt are some of my favorite writers.
36. I didn’t get my BA degree until I was 28.
37. I taught college-level English in a maximum-security women’s prison for two semesters.
38. I count a dog as one of my best friends. The other dog is more like a child to me.
39. I have 13 nieces and nephews, but five of them are from my ex’s side of the family. But I still consider them my nieces and nephews.
40. I’m friends with my ex-husband. I still think he’s an amazing person.
41. The beach is one of my favorite places to be.
42. When I’m angry I cry.
43. That makes me even angrier.
44. I learned how to spin in the fall and bought a wheel of my own.
45. I want to raise alpacas some day.
46. I write about the same things over and over, but in different stories.
47. I learned to ride horses as a means to meet Prince Philip.
48. The plan didn’t really make sense as I lived in CT and he in London.
49. I like to be prepared.
50. I act really tough the first few weeks of the semester to try and get some students to drop.
51. After that I’m a soft touch.
52. I went to Australia when I was 19.
53. When I was in 4th grade my best friend, Denise, moved to MA. It seemed really far away.
54. I still miss her sometimes.
55. I’m tired of living alone.
56. Sometimes I really like living alone.
57. I was 14 before I had my own room.
58. I was a synchronized swimmer for three years as a pre-teen.
59. My first boyfriend gave me Of Human Bondage as a gift. It became one of my favorite books.
60. Even though D.H. Lawrence’s novels sometimes seem over the top, they are among my favorites.
61. I’m a better baker than I am a cook.
62. Bread is my favorite thing to bake.
63. I used to talk to a squirrel I would see as I walked between the train and work. He was missing his tail, so I knew it was the same one.
64. My cat Norman died when I was 12. It was my first experience with death.
65. New York City makes me happy.
66. I understood line after seeing a Sol LeWitt exhibit.
67. I like to mess around with watercolors.
68. My friend Linda Jean Fisher believes that we were once the same person. I believe her.
69. She taught me how to mix paint.
70. She also taught me to believe in myself as a writer.
71. I used to have a recurring dream in which these people, not merfolks, though, who lived underwater would urge me to join them. It was beautiful.
72. It makes me believe I will die by drowning.
73. That doesn’t stop me from swimming.
74. When in CT I walk the dogs by a beaver pond. It’s one my favorite places to be.
75. I have three tattoos.
76. One of them covers a Chinese symbol that was supposed to mean student.
77. I learned it meant Saturday.
78. I thought that was funny, but I covered it anyway.
79. Chewing ice makes me happy.
80. Sometimes I feel obsessive about it.
81. I don’t think I’ll ever have children.
82. I’m afraid everything bad that runs in my family would emerge in my children.
83. But then I think that everything good that runs in my family could exist in my non-existent kids.
84. That’s the most I’ve thought about children in months.
85. I made a lot of quilts between 1992 and 2000. Then I moved to a small apartment and didn’t have room to keep my sewing machine up.
86. The last quilt I made was for Julia, the daughter of a dear friend.
87. I’m learning to embroider.
88. Sometimes I like working with fiber and fabrics better than with words.
89. Mostly words make me happier than anything else, though.
90. Except my boyfriend, family, and friends.
91. My SnB group has kept me sane during the last two semesters.
92. I love to teach.
93. I cheated on my yarn fast.
94. But not as much as I thought I would.
95. I would like to have a little writing house, a room of my own as it were, some day soon.
96. I want to get married again.
97. If I could go anywhere in the world right now, I’d pick Iceland.
98. My parents always told me to do what would make me happy, and I love them for that.
99. The Artist’s Way changed my life.
100. I have a new blog: www.wbnm.typepad.com/pomogo. I’ll be posting there from now on, so change your blogrolls, my dear readers.
Sadly, though, my camera batteries died. I considered, for a brief moment, that I should let the batteries charge overnight and open the boxes in the morning when I would be able to photograph the big event moment by moment. But haven’t I been patient enough, waiting for hours after I arrived home to tear into the boxes? Of course I have.
So now Miss Lendrum is put together. I practiced treadling, and I’m about to find some roving to start spinning. That shouldn’t be a problem, as you know if you’ve looked inside my office closet.
My car’s name is Clarke Sable. My sewing machine’s name is Sally. My computer is Phineas (I know, no alliteration there, but I can’t ever give that name to a child or pet…the computer won’t complain, at least). What should I name Miss L.? Make your suggestions, and I’ll send a skein of a festive, fun yarn purchased at Flying Fingers in Irvington, New York, to the winner.
By the way, this is my 99th post. Next post WBNM turns 100. And that post will have a big announcement.
Don’t forget, bring out your Lenten projects tomorrow. I’ll be bringing my St. F’s Vest of Many Colors to share with my SnB. If you hear some crazy cackling around 7 p.m. Central time tomorrow, you’ll know what it is. ‘Cause there’s a good reason this vest is unfinished. Really.
I’m going to go charge those camera batteries now.
Yup. I came home from running errands after boxing (a trip to the post office to mail a SP package, then to my LYS to exchange needles, then to the grocery store for garlic and milk) to see some packages at my door. Right now they’re leaned against the banco (sp?) next to my big ol’ fireplace. I will not–I repeat, I WILL NOT open them until I get some writing done. I have to turn a story in to workshop tomorrow. So, no pictures.
There’s something else I want to tell you, but not just yet. Patience!
Knitty’s Winter Surprises are up. And although I don’t think either one is in my future, I like them both.
Click on the picture to see Layers in all its nerdy glory. I love the fact that Ryan Marnell is a high school kid designing. Our future is looking brighter, already, isn’t it? I wore this look myself. In the 70s. Yeah, but it didn’t look this cool.
Another 70s look, one that I may make, oh, let’s say next winter, is Starsky. Notice when you click for the bigger picture the banana leaf cables. Notice the cozy length. It makes me want to feather my hair and wear lip gloss. Oh, wait, I do that already (the gloss, not the feathers!). These longer sweaters were pretty stylish about four years ago. I had one I loved but gave it away because of some sad things that happened while I was wearing it. Jordana Paige may have given me a way to redeem myself with the longer sweater, though. I think this one could become a classic.
In summary, fun stuff from Knitty. Of the two Winter Surprises, I think I’d be most likely to knit Starsky, mostly because I would wear it until it didn’t fit or got worn out!
It may take some doing to set up my blog, but I have a fabulous banner, thanks to Jamie Wolcott. Here’s a little preview, which will become my button in time, just in case I don’t figure things out in the near future. I know, it’s small, but I LOVE it. Thanks, Jamie!
I’ve realized that when I move in May, Wearing Black in New Mexico may be a defunct title for me. In a recent blogger post, Sometimes Pretty is Enough, I wrote about how I love pretty with an edge, how I long to exude the class of Audrey Hepburn. I’m a long way away from her, icon and humanitarian extrodinaire, but a sweet friend commented that she and her husband had referred to me as a sort of Post Modern Audrey. Wow! To say the least. But that got me thinking about what I want for my blog, how I want it to look, what my blogging aesthetic is, as it were. And I thought. Yeah. Pomo Golightly.
So, imagine Moon River playing softly in the background. Here we go, baby, here we go.